Article:Permission to party?!

Why were some major TV stars absent at the Gold Awards launch? Riya V Anandwala finds out.. T ellydom has been wit- ness to bitter rivalries and catfights ad infini- tum. But Balaji Telefilms hogs the limelight for its controversies, whether it's the actors or the big boss, Ektaa Kapoor, herself. Here's the latest: Anuj Saxena, Vikas Kalantri and Pooja Ghai launched their Gold Awards on Monday night. The who's who of the television industry made an appear- ance, but most of the K camp were conspicuous by their absence. A source revealed, "Ektaa made every actor sign a sheet stating that they wouldn't attend their party. All of them were invited, but Balaji loyalists didn't show up." Apparently Kapoor herself wasn't invited, while now- friend-now-foe Smriti Z Iraani was expected. Not that she turned up either. Ram Kapoor, Shilpa Saklani, Ronit Roy, Rak- shanda Khan, Riva Bab- ber, Hiten Tejwani, Naman Shaw and other invitees too followed Kapoor's diktat and were absent. Some of the estranged Balaji actors, Aamna Sharif, Iqbal Khan, Eijaz Khan and Rohit Roy made it to the event as well. A Balaji actor on condi- tion of anonymity con- firmed that Kapoor had asked the stars not to attend the launch. "Yes, we were informed about this, but in a very polite way. Balaji is coming up with its own award func- tion at the end of this year, so if we went for Gold Awards launch, there would be nothing unique for our own ceremony," she stated. There were a few excep- tions like Shabbir Ahluwalia, Mouni Roy, Reshmi Ghosh, Vikas Sethi, and Sanjeeda A R, who rocked the party.